Manage.hang.saving

so section 31 and we’re starting the penultimate row. We are on the boundary and are overlooked by houses, in fact probably flats here. The day is quite miserable and at about 5pm it is the only small moment when the rain has let up. There is absolutely no one to be seen when we arrive, but in the time we are there a few dog walkers come and go quite quickly, about 3 in all. There is no one walking through and no one sitting and, besides Chloe, there is no one playing. There is however a tent, a small dome tent in what probably would have been my section yesterday. I have to wonder why, I am fairly sure you are not allowed to put your tent up here in the park so if it is someone homeless then I’m guessing they will be moved on. Maybe though the council have decided to let the space as everyone has to staycate this year so they have seen an opportunity to fill the coffers. Tomorrow we may see a load of tents and a portaloo. They could even be starting a festival here and this one tent is just a little early. I will let you know how it progresses. I couldn’t see anybody near the tent but I didn’t go and investigate I must admit.

All in all there wasn’t too much to see today and I was hurried by a child who didn’t really want to be there. The large canopy of the horse chestnut covered a lot of the area so there were a few conker cases that have already fallen. The wall has lots of fallen leaves by it and some litter, but nothing was too excessive. I saw : 2 trees, lamppost, path, grass, wall, leaves, conkers in their cases, a COVID sign, 24 pieces of litter (including cigarette ends), daisies and buttercups.

relay.tones.solar

So section 30 and only 10 more to do. I feel that I could do this whole thing again and everything would be completely different and that is the joy of a space like this. We have six trees today. Five are in a little cluster together and one large one on the boundary and this means the space is mainly in shade. There are quite a few dogs walkers and a few families playing tennis but also some elderly people sitting on the benches and relaxing. It is a cool but nice day at about 4.30pm and I think it is dictated by the fact there is the Euro football finals on tonight and people have already started to gather in houses and pubs so the demographic is different than usual. I can also hear chanting from somewhere, which if you think there are at least 3 hours to go before kick off, makes you wonder how much supporting they will be able to do when needed! When we arrived at the park there were two police officers here and a police van. Chloe, of course said hello, but I am not sure why they were there. There are two England flags coloured in chalk on the paths in the park, which although not in my section, Chloe kindly took photos of.

There were a couple of dogs in my area one in particular caught Chloe’s eye. There was also a boy on his scooter that Chloe raced for a while but she felt a little upset as he asked about her height even though he wasn’t trying to be mean she was upset.

Today I saw: 6 trees, path, grass, mud, wall, 1 bin, 1 crow, 2 dogs and walkers, 2 lots of initials carved into the tree, 35 pieces of litter, 1 Penny, some conker pods, 3 feathers, daisies, mushrooms, dandelions, tree roots.

rating.soap.game

Section 29 and we are definitely getting there now, nearly at the end of another row. Today was a lovely afternoon after a wet morning. We went there in the late afternoon and was initially quite quiet but became busier, mainly with families. A few dog walkers including Daisy who nearly knocked me over and two large dogs barking at each other and being held back by their owners. As I said there were quite a few children some of whom we have seen there before and Chloe has played with before, so she had a lovely time playing hide and seek, football and scooter racing with them. Having ranted about diversity yesterday, today there was a wider range of diversity both in age but ethnicity too as not everyone in the park was white.

I liked the park today, I think because there was a mix of people and everyone was chatty, saying hello or just talking to people they didn’t know. So many people talked to Chloe and she stroked any dog she could, (except for the two large barking ones). Once again there were people playing tennis. Do you know for at least 9 years we have not seen anyone play tennis but since Boris said we could do outside activities such as tennis it is as if everyone feels that is what they have to do and most days we see people there now. When I do the sections with the tennis courts I will have to think about the times I choose as I won’t be able to do it whilst anyone is on there.

The area today was fairly rubbish free and quite free of anything else really. I saw: 2 halves of trees, grass, clover, mushrooms, path, 1 broken birds egg, 9 pieces of litter.

float.matter.sheets

Section 28. Today the section was quite quiet maybe because it was 4pm or maybe because it threatened rain but never delivered. The truth is I was the oldest person in the park for the whole time I was there as the only people in were older teenagers, a dog walker(not old), a couple of kids and Chloe. I love being in this park, I think because of the transitory aspect to it as well as the beautiful trees and the fact that a community attaches itself to it. I like that saplings are planted here and they are respected and allowed to grow and that litter can be there but there are enough people who care enough to deal with the worst. However the thing that is clear to me and will become clear to you as you view my work is that it is not truly diverse. There is a range of ages and backgrounds but I have little evidence of colour diversity, it is a white area in a quite predominantly white region. The paintings I will paint will be of white people, albeit from different backgrounds. Admittedly I am portraying a limited time each day so I can’t always see who is in the park, but I think we can safely say I am showing you something that is predominantly white. The temptation is to paint someone of colour who wasn’t really there just to satisfy the statistics but I wanted to try and show you the park and demographic as I encountered it.

There has been less to see today except for my fallen tree trunk. I enjoyed today, I am definitely someone who enjoys less people being around. So in the park, I am best when I share it with approximately 3 other people so today was pretty much perfect for about 5 minutes, after which the numbers started to increase.

Today I saw: 1 sapling, 1 bin, 10 pieces of litter, a few cigarette ends, grass, path, daisies, large tree stump, mushrooms again, 1 crossroads of path, clover.

First.length.social

Section 27 and a lovely bright day, beautiful blue sky with high clouds. It is about 1.30 and we have just had some lunch sitting here. The park is really busy today. Lots of different people walking through. Once again they are not marching through but strolling and enjoying the few moments they are spending there. There are a few mothers with young children, but otherwise not so many children but I suppose it is school time, so they are either in school or isolating as so many are. My daughter is off school but not isolating so here with me.

There are a group of lads with a moped on a bench, not quite in my section who were friendly and chatty. Not completely sure why they have a moped in the park and not parked on the road like anyone else might but maybe it’s new and they have just saved up for it so they are worried about leaving it. I’m not so sure about that.

A couple of girls in my section put a blanket down and start picnicking on a pizza. They were just really enjoying the weather and the atmosphere in the park. There is definitely a feeling of freedom here. I have to ask why that is? Cases here in Darlington are extremely high and I know there is a worry despite all rules potentially being lifted very soon. So is it that relaxation that fuels the atmosphere or the winning of the football yesterday or is it that despite the pressures you can feel everywhere else, those pressures are left at the boundary wall when you come in here and for a few moments you can just enjoy the space. That’s what I think anyway.

An old lady moves slowly through the section with her walker. Stopping a couple of times to sit on her walker she carries on through. You wonder about her. Does she have any family? Does she walk into town because she wants to or because she has to? How has the pandemic been for her, has she been alone or was there a bubble?

Dogs and dog walkers are there today but not as many as yesterday and none came into my section. I don’t have any numbers.

Interestingly today I took Chloe to look at the mushrooms from yesterday as they were so beautiful and they had gone, completely gone!

Today I saw: 2 lampposts, 1 bench, 1 bin, 1 dandelion, 14 pieces of litter, lots of cigarette ends but considerably less than usual around a bench, 1 old and split open conker, grass, clover, daisies, buttercups, tree roots,

Noon.salad.cargo

So in section 26 today and I have started a new row. Today is a cool day but no rain and after the last few days that is a relief. The large puddles that were there yesterday and covered Chloe in mud have gone today. It was steady again today, met my friend with more coffee again and saw a couple I am starting to recognise as regulars. I liked the feeling of dampness today and there were the most beautiful mushrooms in the shade of a large tree in my section, which made it feel more like early autumn. There were a lot of dogs and walkers today at least 8 dogs, although it was hard to see. However just 2 (3 walkers) in my section Molly and Bonny. There was hardly any rubbish in this section, which considering it was by a wall, was quite surprising.

I think today that apart from the dog walkers, everyone else was just walking through, no one seemed to stop and enjoy the park today and maybe that was the dampness. There were people on the tennis court, which was quite an unusual time to see people, but my friend and I were the only two bench dwellers today.

I felt relaxed in the park today I enjoyed the sense of being by myself whilst the world went on around me. I love the large trees that we have especially in these border sections. The shade they give and the fact that they are little worlds within a world. On this tree I could see that at some point, probably several years ago, that someone had written a name or initials in the bark, but they were no longer readable just a sense of them there.

There is a large horse chestnut tree just outside of this section but several branches hang over the section and are laden with conkers so this section in September will be covered with conkers and we can come and collect them.

Today I saw: 3 trees, 6 pieces of litter, 4 feathers, 39 mushrooms, wall, path, grass, conkers, old fallen conker, clover, buttercups, fallen leaves, a strange area of 4 paving stones for no apparent reason.

little.coffee.code

Section 25 and we’re back! After Chloe being quite ill at the weekend and having to isolate, she had a negative test result and she has turned into Tigger. Tomorrow she can be back to school but today we came to the park. Since section 24 it has pretty much rained continuously and very heavily with thunderstorms, so the reality of being in the park, which can get quite flooded, may not have been possible anyway. Today, more rain, with a brief interlude whilst we’re here. It isn’t as flooded as it can be but there are quite a few large puddles, much to Chloe’s delight!

The park isn’t busy, possibly due to the rain! The only people really are just walking through and quite quickly instead of the usual meander. There are even two power walkers, wiggling their hips through my section. Olympic training? There are 3 dogs and 3 dog walkers. With one dog in my section, Max who was extremely bouncy and energetic, with an owner who was camera shy. One guy is sitting on a bench with his hat pulled right over his eyes, is he trying to escape something? Maybe he has had an argument at home so sitting here whilst his partner calms down. I think he is Gaz.

Another lady, Judy, sits on a bench. She lives nearby but always stops for a few minutes in the park on her way home just because she enjoys it she says, but also maybe because her leg has been giving her more pain than usual recently.

Today I saw: 1 tree, 1 bin, 1 wall, 1 path, grass, clover, buttercups, fallen leaves, mud, at least 37 pieces of litter, 100s of cigarette ends.

Well I said I was waiting that call but we haven’t had that just a poorly daughter and so we have had to apply for a test and then will have to wait for the results until we can venture out again. So hopefully I will be back in a few days.

This project was all about coming out of COVID but it seems we are taking two steps forward and one back at the moment so these little breaks in the 40 days just show what the world is at the moment.

items.feast.mental

Section 24 and it is a cooler day at about 2pm. The sky is a mixture of blue with white and grey clouds. Showers are due I feel. It is quiet again with a few people on benches, there is a couple having a picnic but they go soon after I arrive and then another couple just lying on the mown grass looking at their phones together. Dave the musician walks by without his dog but with another guy and points out to me that they are holding hands, I’m not sure why and I can’t quite make out if it is a new relationship or not, whatever, they looked happy. There were three girls on a bench next to my section. I told them what I was doing and to just ignore me. I like the fact that whenever I explain to anyone about this project, they generally just find it interesting and let me get on with it, take their photo or whatever.

Struggling to know what to say today, I feel everything is changing again. When I started this project all the numbers for COVID were very low, but now, in this region they are getting very high and I am anticipating the call from the school saying we need to isolate for ten days. So I may have to break my project for a while. I love doing this and exploring this park and the people, so don’t fancy a ten day break but we will see what happens. However for today it has affected my thoughts. Watching a park that was coming out of lockdown but you wonder what the cost of lifting these restrictions is as more and more of the young adults in this park and children are allowed to be getting infected with a virus that no one really knows whether it will cause them long term problems or not. This project was part of the pandemic and there may be more to come.

Today I saw: 2 benches, 1 bin, 1 lamppost, grass, path, clover, daisies, bush, 1 pair of headphones, apps 55 pieces of rubbish, 100s of cigarette ends.

Someone said to me that I was obsessed by rubbish and I thought about that. The truth is my daughter gets really upset by the rubbish in the park so I wanted to record it and once you photograph one bit you need to photograph it all. I can’t decide that this is rubbish but the cigarette ends aren’t, I have to photograph it all, sorry!

BTW I saw 1 dog and one dog walker in my section with another 2 dogs and walkers elsewhere.

pens.gained.split

So we are in section 23 and I must admit I don’t have much to say today. It is nearly five and warm with beautiful blue skies. I am quite central and consequently there is only grass and path in this section. The grass is newly cut too so the cuttings are just laying on top of the grass. There are no trees or flowers, I can see a squirrel but not in my area. Either side of this section are benches and on one bench is a girl, lying and sunbathing and on the other bench are two girls who are just watching me march around my section as I measure it out and then whilst I record my video, incredulously, even giggling to each other. It is good to provide the entertainment. There are an older couple on another bench who leave and then I think I am the only person over 20 as gradually more and more ‘teenagers’ appear and sit in their little groups at the benches. This must be an early evening thing in the park as it empties of old people, like me and becomes the domain of the young and maybe the odd dog walker. (I saw 3 dogs and 2 dog walkers). I was aware that I noticed this, that it became something to note. Would I note it if groups of old people turned up? Probably, but in a different way possibly, so does that say something about me or are there actually issues with groups like this? I have heard stories I must say. However, apart from the giggling at the weirdo with the camera, they just kept themselves to themselves in small little groups and chilled out enjoying time with their friends. I didn’t intend to come later in the evening as this is about mine and Chloe’s park and that doesn’t involve the evening but maybe it alters again and potentially maybe there can be more issues, I don’t know? Maybe that is something I do need to explore after all! We will see.

I saw: 20 pieces of litter, 1 feather, grass, grass cuttings, path